The Cry of Jazz 1959

Filmed in Chicago & finished in 1959, The Cry of Jazz is filmmaker, composer and arranger Edward O. Bland's polemical essay on the politics of music and race - a forecast of what he called "the death of jazz." A landmark moment in black film, foreseeing the civil unrest of subsequent decades, it also features the only known footage of visionary pianist Sun Ra from his beloved Chicago period. Featured are ample images of tenor saxophonist John Gilmore and the rest of Ra's Arkestra in Windy City nightclubs, all shot in glorious black & white.

Cast:

George Waller
Alex Johnson 

Dorothea Horton
Natalie 

Melinda Dillon
Faye 

Andrew Duncan
John 

Leroy Inman
Louis 

James Miller
Bob